Given the chance to stick around – and the Maloofs have given every indication they plan to keep Smart for the duration of a contract that runs through 2013-14 – the Kings' second-year coach will stick to his program while continuing to advocate for significant personnel changes. He notes the chronic need for an elite facilitator, for a locker room craving a dynamic, established star, along with the fact that his assembled cast – which is not devoid of individual talent – consists of too many small guards and not enough frontcourt length.

Nonetheless, given the Kings' poor record (9-18) and an ill-defined style of play, questions about Smart's own stewardship have increased. Is he a capable head coach? Can he establish a team identity? And does he have the forcefulness and internal clout to discipline and nurture Cousins, the gifted center who has been suspended three times this season, most recently for cursing out his coach during halftime of Friday's game against the Clippers at Staples Center?